


The Road To Ruin

by Reis_Asher



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Anal Sex, Android Dehumanization (Detroit: Become Human), Android Gore (Detroit: Become Human), Crushes, Friends to Lovers to Enemies, Gavin Reed Being an Asshole, Guilt, Hank Anderson Being an Asshole, Heavy Angst, M/M, Murder, Pre-Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), Pre-Canon, Regret, Unsafe Sex, motel sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:09:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26388475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reis_Asher/pseuds/Reis_Asher
Summary: While Hank's in the throes of mourning Cole, Gavin pitches a plan to get revenge on the android who killed him. It goes horribly wrong, leading them down a path of self-recrimination and loathing that destroys any chance they had at a relationship...
Relationships: Hank Anderson/Gavin Reed
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	The Road To Ruin

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence. An android is murdered in graphic detail. There's no happy ending! There is, however, one-time anal sex in a cheap motel room.
> 
> Every now and then I get the urge to write a fic where love is ruined. Hank and Gavin always seem like a perfect vehicle to play out that destructive dynamic.

"Hank." Rough hands shook Hank awake. "You can't sleep here. Go the fuck home."

Hank fought against Gavin's voice and touch, wishing to surrender to the darkness of sleep indefinitely. Every waking hour was torture. He'd returned to work in hopes he could bury himself in homicide cases, but the residents of Detroit had chosen this time of all times to stop killing each other.

Gavin didn't seem to desist, however. "This is fucking embarrassing," he hissed. "You gotta get your shit together. You ain't helpin' nobody like this."

"Leave me the fuck alone, kid," Hank warned. He raised his head and gazed around through lidded eyes, aware that the bullpen was empty except for them. He bumped his computer mouse and the current time showed on the screen in large, friendly numbers. Four 'o clock. So late it was early. Fowler would be in any minute. 

Hank became aware of an unpleasant wetness on his face. He'd drooled into his beard while sleeping at his desk and now he wiped it on his sleeve, not caring if he ruined his jacket.

"I'm not a kid," Gavin snarled, crossing his arms in a defensive posture. "I'm tryin' to help you."

"Well I don't need your _help_ ," Hank snapped. "Everyone's trying to help. Nothin' helps. 'Cept maybe if you put a bullet in my head. Give me some goddamn peace."

"It's been three months. You gotta pull yourself together. It was an accident. There was nothin' you coulda done. Nothing." Gavin gazed down at his shoes, the first submissive gesture Hank had seen from him in a long time.

"I know all that. I don't wanna talk about it. Not with you. Not with _anyone_."

"I get that. I don't wanna hear you talk about your feelings either. I'm no therapist." Gavin cast his gaze aside, seemingly unable to meet Hank's eyes. "Words are pointless. If I was in your position, I know exactly what I'd do."

That got Hank's attention. "What the hell can I do? My son's in the ground. There's no fixin' that."

"There's a better option than drinking too much and flunkin' out of the department." Gavin slid a manilla folder off the table behind him and tossed it down onto Hank's desk, where it landed with a slap. Photos of a male android with brown slicked-back hair and soft blue eyes spilled out of the folder. It still wore the white uniform of its profession, one Hank would know anywhere. The MC500 android model was designed for medical care, including basic surgery.

He recalled it standing in the whitewashed hallway of the Detroit Medical Center, up to its elbows in Cole's blood, telling him with a solemn expression that Cole didn't make it. He'd looked right through the machine, blinking as if he was seeing things. It was a surreal moment he'd never forgotten.

"I'm sorry for your loss, but I have other patients I must attend to," it had said. It walked away, shoes squeaking on the floor as if this was just another routine moment in its list of tasks.

Hank hated that fucking android, and seeing its face again here only made him seethe. It was pretty, like they all were, designed to lull humans into a false sense of security. He didn't feel safe around androids any more. He knew that real people were being replaced by computers with zero empathy, all in the name of saving money.

"Why are you bringin' me this?" Hank pushed the folder away, as if it might poison him by touching it. "Is this your idea of a _joke_?"

Gavin stepped forward and picked up one of the photos, waving it around. "Aren't you angry, Hank? A human surgeon could have saved your son. Instead, they chose to save a buck and let this—this _thing_ operate on your son. He died. Don't you want justice?"

"Justice?" Hank scoffed. "You want me to put it in handcuffs, Gavin? March it down to the station and charge it with a crime? It's a fucking _machine_."

"Exactly. What do you do with a broken machine? You put it outta service." Gavin's old smirk shone on his face, the twinkle in his grey eyes betraying his need for Hank's validation.

"That's a crime." Hank lowered his voice. "I can't go into a hospital and destroy medical equipment. Someone could die."

"Someone already _did_." Gavin slammed his hand down on the desk. Zero points for subtlety in hammering his point home, but Hank got the idea. A large part of him cried out to embrace Gavin's plan. It would feel cathartic hitting the thing with a baseball bat until it was out of service. Then the hospital would have to hire a real surgeon. One who wasn't high on red ice most of the damn time.

Beyond his baser instincts came a sense of connection with Gavin he'd thought long dead. Gavin's crush on him had turned sour when Hank married; even more so when Cole was born. He'd only started to come around with Hank's recent divorce, but then Cole had died and the last thing on Hank's mind was an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate. They'd never so much as kissed, and yet Gavin's loyalty was still strong even after all the shit he'd put him through.

Having Gavin come to him like this, when all anyone else had offered him were bland hopes, prayers, and _"sorry for your loss"_ written in a sympathy card fifty times over—it was everything. Gavin had gone to some lengths to get these photographs and files. To identify this android amongst the hundreds working at the hospital. He'd abused police resources—something that could see him disciplined or fired. He'd done it all for Hank, and as much pain as he was in, he found some small comfort in that.

"Gavin, I—" Hank shook his head.

"Don't think." Gavin almost whispered it into Hank's ear. "If shit goes wrong, I'll take the fall. I'll say it was all my idea."

"Why?" Hank asked.

"Don't act stupid now. You're the most brilliant man I fuckin' know, that's why, and I can't stand to watch you waste away like this." Gavin shrugged. "I have a plan, but we gotta go now, while it's early. Are you in or not?"

"I'm in." Hank stood up. He clapped Gavin on the shoulder as they headed out of the bullpen, and Gavin let loose a genuine smile.

***

Hank idled in the parking garage. Gavin sat beside him in the passenger seat. Two quickly-draining paper cups of coffee sat in the cup holders. Hank picked his up and nursed it like it was a beer. He wished it was. He could go for something stiff right about now.

"You sure it's going to CyberLife for maintenance today?" Hank asked. He kept his eyes on the white truck with its back door open. Several androids had already walked into the back of it, Hank's heart lurching every time the service elevator door slid back to reveal another figure.

Gavin narrowed his eyes. "That's the fourth time you've asked me. My info's good. They all get into that van at the end of their shift, every month on the 15th, and go to get their memories wiped. Apparently they get glitchy if they deal with too many patients, so they reset them just to make sure."

"It won't even remember what it did. How will we know we have the right one?" Hank scratched the back of his neck. The longer he thought about this, the more doubts he had. This wasn't a virtuous course of action. It was willful destruction of property. Hank hated cops who thought themselves above the law, and yet here he was, a couple of baseball bats sitting in the back seat. Gavin had brought them. Hank wanted to shoot the damn thing and be done, but Gavin had said a more intimate approach would give Hank relief. Make the machine suffer as Hank had suffered, with the same indifference with which he'd been treated.

Hank had pointed out that androids didn't suffer. They didn't experience pain. They weren't alive. Gavin had merely shrugged.

The service elevator door slid open and the android stepped out. Hank knew it was the one, even though the hospital had several of the same model. He felt it in his gut, and he still trusted his instincts.

Hank and Gavin opened their doors simultaneously. They reached for the bats in the back. Hank thought about Cole and dived at the android, who was taken off guard. He swung the bat at the back of its knees, knocking it to the ground. It landed with a thud. Gavin grinned as he brought the bat down on its back. Its hips jerked forward.

"Please stop. You are damaging lifesaving medical equipment," the android said, in a detached tone that only incensed Hank further. He couldn't believe his son's life had been entrusted to this walking, talking fax machine.

"You killed my son!" Hank yelled. He rolled the android over onto its back and straddled it, grabbing handfuls of white sweatshirt in his hands. He punched the android across its pretty face, grunting in satisfaction as blue blood sprayed from its nose and coated his knuckles. "I bet you don't even remember his name."

"My memory is w-w-wiped every m-m-month," the android stuttered. "I r-r-r-regret that I d-do not recall—"

"Cole," Hank hissed. "His name was Cole."

Gavin tore its arm off with such sheer force that it didn't sever at the shoulder joint, but instead tore apart just below it with a spark. A mass of jumbled wires protruded from the stump. Gavin's face was locked in an expression of sheer exultation, thirium sprayed across his features like a monster on the hunt, and Hank realized he'd probably never felt this powerful.

He was feeling pretty damn good, too. Like a god, come to take revenge for his son and set the universe to rights. 

"You walk like a human, talk like a human, but you're just a fucking machine." He bashed the android's head into the concrete over and over, watching its head split open like an egg. Thirium dribbled out in a puddle, but the android was still functioning.

"P-p-please take ttthis unit to the nearest Cy-Cy-CyberLife facility…"

"Fuck you." Gavin brought the baseball bat down on its neck, but the android still didn't deactivate, despite the cracking sounds its neck made beneath the force of the bat.

Hank opened up a panel in its chest. The android's thirium pump beat like a human heart, the ultimate mockery of life. Cole's heart should have been beating, not this mechanical doll's replacement. Hank closed his huge hand around it—

"I-I-I remember Co-Cole… I-I-I'm ssssssorry—"

Hank tore out its heart as the android said the words, and the unit's LED finally blinked out. A primal sense of victory surged through him as he crushed the pump in his fist, biocomponent residue and thirium dripping through his fingers and pouring down his forearms as he lost himself.

The meaning of the unit's words dawned on him, and he dropped the deflated heart, joy being replaced by panic. The satisfied grin on Gavin's face started to fade as he realized Hank's predicament.

"Don't listen to it, Hank. It was tryin' to trick you."

"What have we done…" Hank looked down at his hands as if seeing them for the first time. Gavin steered him to the passenger seat and strapped him in, and he was only vaguely aware of the car starting. Gavin silenced the squad car radio chatter and the tires squealed on the concrete as he hit the gas. Hank felt a sick bump as he drove straight over the android's body, and then it was in the rearview mirror, a nightmare scene his own precinct would pick over, shrug off, and clean up. They'd know it was a Detroit police car that made those tracks. They'd find Hank and Gavin's DNA all over the place, but they'd never send it to the lab for analysis.

It was property damage. Covered by hospital insurance. No big deal in the grand scheme of things. Hardly worth police time to investigate.

Hank watched the city roll by as the thirium dried on his fingers. The smell was awful, like burnt plastic and melted rubber rolled into one, an acrid stench that he'd never forget. How people boiled this into red ice he'd never understand.

Gavin pulled into a little motel as a storm rumbled overhead. The neon vacancies sign was lit. He left Hank in the car and went into the office, coming back with keys in his hand and a grin on his face.

The thirium on Hank's hands was already becoming invisible to the human eye. He washed it off in the grubby bathroom sink as Gavin sat on the edge of the bed and peeled out of his leather jacket. Hank watched him slip his t-shirt over his head, admiring his toned, hairy chest and the way his muscles rippled beneath his skin. 

Hank could still see blue blood under his fingernails, but not for much longer. It was already fading, and there were other things to see to. Other more immediate concerns, like the erection that had surged when he'd destroyed the android and was quickening again now. Gavin was willing and wanting, his partner in crime. The blame and the guilt could wait until tomorrow, when hindsight kicked in. For now his body was singing, driven by adrenaline, high on the thrill of the kill. He'd never been as close to the criminals he put in jail as he was now, and yet the law separated them. Androids were not living beings. What he'd done was not technically murder.

Yet it felt like he'd taken a life. He abandoned the sink and dried his hands on a grey towel that smelled like mildew before walking back into the master bedroom. Torrential rain pounded against the windows and Hank drew the curtains, blocking out the world.

When he turned, Gavin was right there, smelling like sweat and heat, the victorious hunter basking in the sensation of being alive in the face of death. Hank pulled him into a punishing kiss, rough, hot, and greedy, all tongues and passion he'd never allowed himself to indulge in until today. He groped Gavin's crotch and felt a thick erection matching his own through his jeans.

Gavin broke the kiss, gasping for air. "Fuck, Hank, holy shit…" Hank was on him again before he could speak, unbuckling his belt as Gavin worked on the buttons of his shirt. He forced Gavin's jeans and underwear down, grabbing Gavin's cock in his hand and giving it a quick tug. Gavin was putty in his hands, and he knew he could ask the detective to do anything and he would, willingly, submit to Hank's demands and more.

They paused. Hank didn't want to pause. Any brief interval led to the images of the android flooding into his brain like the water outside, his head crushed, his heart in Hank's hands as he made his apology—

_It_. Not him. It. It wasn't alive. What they'd done wasn't murder.

"Hank, you with me?" Hank's erection had floundered in Gavin's hand. "We don't have to do this if you don't want to." His grey eyes were searching, and Hank wondered if he was haunted by the same specter, his conscience needing relief as well.

"You bottom, Gav?" Hank growled into his ear, his interest returning as he focused on the task at hand.

"Fuck yeah. You're huge. I'd love to get fucked by the biggest cock I've ever seen."

"You're not too bad yourself," Hank remarked. He eased Gavin down onto the bed and flipped him over. He didn't want to look at his face and see their crimes reflected there. The motel had provided condoms and lube in a little basket beside the bed, and Hank wondered if people came here for any reason besides fucking.

"No condom," Gavin said. "Come in me."

"Sure thing." Hank didn't waste time arguing. They were way beyond sensible choices at this point. He fumbled with the lube, using way too much to save himself time. Once he was buried inside Gavin, nothing else would matter. There would only be the mechanics of sex and the sweet build to oblivion. Afterwards, he'd probably doze on the huge bed.

When he woke, Gavin would be gone.

Hank grabbed Gavin by the hip, angled his cock, and slid slowly into him. He bit his lip to force himself into patience. Hurting Gavin was not on his agenda. He'd caused enough harm for one day.

That thought drifted away like clouds in a strong wind as Gavin's tight heat surrounded him. Thunder rumbled, rain hammering on the roof, but Hank didn't care about any of it as he slowly thrust in and out of Gavin's hole. Gavin clutched the pillows, grunting as he submitted to Hank's pounding. It was nothing like love and Hank knew it at the same time he acknowledged he'd never been this intimate with anyone. To kill and find comfort in each other afterwards, made them co-conspirators in forbidden acts, neither having to shoulder the burden alone as long as they were joined.

Sweat trickled down Gavin's back, and broke out on Hank's brow, the spring storm bringing with it punishing humidity. In another life he might have been playing in the park with Cole, rushing to find shelter from the rain, but innocence was dead, now, another victim of the tragedy that had changed Hank's life forever.

Hank sped up the pace to allay the thoughts creeping in. He focused on the pleasure building inside him, eager to shoot his load inside Gavin's ass. He reached around and jerked Gavin's cock, chuckling as Gavin let out a sharp cry. He had it all, now. Every forbidden pleasure was his for the taking.

Hank stiffened and let go, bellowing as he shot deep, emptying his balls until he was truly and utterly spent. He slipped out, realizing with a pang of guilt that Gavin had come and he'd barely noticed, the damp spot on the comforter the only sign.

Hank pulled the comforter back and lay on the sheets. Gavin lay his head on his chest, a satisfied smile crossing his face. It was a perfect moment, post-coital bliss pushing away all Hank's doubts and fears about the past and the future. He could pretend he loved Gavin, and hadn't just taken advantage of his crush for private revenge and guilty pleasures afterward. For this moment, all was well, the android body in the hospital parking garage a million miles away.

Or not.

"Did we do the right thing?" Gavin's voice sounded small, uncertain, so unlike himself that Hank had to double check that it was really Gavin who lay in his arms.

"Nothin' about what we did was right. But it's done." Hank's words had an air of finality to them that he didn't expect. Gavin lifted his head and looked Hank in the eyes. His gaze was filled with hurt, and Hank realized in one sudden, heartstopping moment that Gavin wasn't referring to the android, but their tryst.

Hank had shot Gavin down in no uncertain terms, casually tossing him aside like the hospital android had to Hank after dropping the bombshell that had ruined his life. He went to take his words back, to tell Gavin that wasn't what he'd meant, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. It would be a lie to lead him on. To pretend at feelings that didn't exist.

Perhaps the medical android had felt the same way. It had simply been doing its job to the best of its logical ability. Communicating a loss, and then moving on to the next patient it had a chance at saving. To pretend it cared about Cole's loss would have seemed condescending, wouldn't it? To have an android try tell Hank that it knew how he felt—it would have been a hollow lie. Shallow. Empty.

Like Hank's grieving heart, broken and incapable of love, now poisoned with the toxic fruit of revenge. Not only could he not love Gavin, but hate had started to fester like an open wound. It was Gavin's idea to kill the android. His plan. His smile as he drove over the body with obvious enjoyment. Even the motel and the sex—all of it was Gavin's fault. All of it.

At some point Gavin had rolled onto his side of the bed, and had fallen asleep with his back to Hank. Hank was starting to feel cold, the sweat drying on his skin as the rain outside slowed, the thunder rumbling further away.

He slipped out of bed and found his clothing on the floor. He dressed quickly, ignoring the figure gently snoring on the sheets. He looked down at his hands and imagined he could still see blue blood underneath his fingernails, though he knew it was impossible by now. They would always be stained in some sense, the blood impossible to wash off.

When Gavin woke, he would hate Hank for leaving him here, filled with semen and alone in a shitty motel room, but Hank couldn't bring himself to stay. He needed to go home and have a drink. Or ten. Maybe he'd polish off an entire bottle of whiskey and pass out on the floor. Oblivion sounded good right about now.

He thought of the android, uttering Cole's name at the end. Had it remembered Cole, or had it simply been trying to preserve its own functions like a living being scrambling to hold onto life?

He realized, abject horror dawning on him like the blood-red sun on the horizon, that the wish to preserve one's own life could be considered an act of a living being in and of itself. It didn't matter if the android had lied. Hank had murdered something that wanted to live with his own two hands, and no amount of denial could ever change the fact that he had committed murder and delighted in the act, following it up by fucking his subordinate in a seedy motel room. 

His fall was complete. He had become everything Gavin had sought to avoid, his plan a self-fulfilling prophecy. Gavin would grow bitter and distant as he realized his feelings would never be reciprocated, that he'd been used by the man he admired most. Hank would descend into madness and alcoholism, perhaps someday ending it all with his favorite revolver.

It would be best for everyone. He ruined everything he touched.


End file.
